


The Ring Maker

by Hinalilly



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 22:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8120377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinalilly/pseuds/Hinalilly
Summary: In which Haruka makes (totally extraordinary) rings and trinkets for a living.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aenya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aenya/gifts).



> This is just a short drabble (inspired by [this](https://twitter.com/sliver_S2/status/778778845482672129) ring) which just decided it wanted to be written. ~~Unlike the rest of my wips, which continue to refuse.~~ I figured, since it was writing itself, I'd let it happen.
> 
> Consider it the basic setting for an AU which might or might not be written in the future. Enjoy!

“This is. A wedding ring.”

Haruka lifts his eyes briefly to acknowledge the ring the customer is talking about. It’s one of his favorites. A school of simple, small fish, sculpted in silver, linked together in a circle to form a wide, wedding band.

“Yes,” he replies, going back to his task of digging out several dusty portfolios for this customer, which will hopefully make his custom ring order swift and painless.

“Really? A wedding ring?”

“Yes.”

A snort.

“ _This_ ring?”

Haruka frowns, setting a couple of folders on the display counter.

“… _yes_.”

A laugh. Haruka is trying his best not to snap, but this costumer is making it especially hard not to feel irritated.

“Have you ever stopped to think about how it would look like to _propose_  to someone with this thing?” The man flashes a quick, pointed-teeth smile, continuing before Haruka can interject. “Let me tell you. It would look ridiculous!” He laughs lightly, and Haruka _wants_ to feel angry and kick him out, but the look of honest amusement on his face as he stares at the ring, probably imagining the situation, makes the fight leave Haruka’s chest in a long sigh.

Haruka doesn’t see what’s so ridiculous about it.

“It would not,” he states firmly, turning the folders around and opening them. The customer seems to be having fun, twirling the ring with his fingers, chuckling as more proposal scenarios undoubtedly cross his mind.

If he is lucky, maybe the man will be amused enough to actually buy the ring. Haruka has been waiting for that one to find its proper home for a while now.

With another sigh, Haruka pushes the folders towards the man, hoping once again that this will be quick.

Instead, the man suddenly reaches for his hand.

Dumbfounded, and with his hand trapped in a strong grip, Haruka watches as the man kneels in front of the display counter separating them. He can’t even pull back before he is offered the ring, the silver band hovering right in front of his ring finger, a hair’s breadth away from being slipped on.

Red eyes shine with a mysterious inner fire when the man bluntly asks—

“Will you marry me?”

Haruka’s mouth falls open.

The man’s fingers feel hot and heavy around his hand.

A roaring laughter breaks the scene, and Haruka blinks as the man stands back up again, releasing him at last to comb his fingers through his wine red hair.

“Told you it was ridiculous!” He grins, laughter still shaking his body, red dusting his cheeks. “You should’ve seen your face!”

Haruka isn’t laughing.

He continues to stare at the man, who is smiling widely, and muttering something about a “fish ring” as he snorts at the ring in his palm.

It wasn’t the proposal that fazed him.

(It had caught him off-guard, yes, but that wasn’t the only reason behind his shock.)

Haruka certainly felt it the moment their hands touched, and now he can see it clearly—a dark, deep haze; a lingering darkness surrounding the smiling man, almost clinging to the fire within him.

_The depths of the ocean, cold and hungry, trying to swallow him._

_A curse._

Haruka lowers his eyes to the ring, which glints warmly in the man’s hand.

“Wear it.”

The man blinks up at Haruka, staring at him in disbelief.

“Huh?”

“If you think it’s so ridiculous,” Haruka speaks quietly, busying himself with fixing the folders’ positions on the counter, “then wear it.”

“Wha—”

“Until the next full moon.”

“EH—”

“In public.”

“HAH!?” The man is practically yelling in his face now, fists on the counter, but Haruka doesn’t budge. “Why would I want to do that!?”

Pushing the folders towards him once again, Haruka holds the man’s stare with one of his own.

“I’ll make your order for free.”

It’s the man’s turn to gape at Haruka, his eyes darting from him, to the folders, to the ring clutched in his hand. He then looks back up at him warily, suspicion in his eyes.

“You’ll make the ring I want? For free?”

Haruka nods.

The man’s frown intensifies.

“ _Any_ ring I want?”

Haruka nods again.

“For free,” he adds for good measure.

The man stares at the ring in his hand again, and clicks his tongue.

“Fine,” he grumbles, the playful fire in his eyes lit again with a grin, “you’re on.”

 

* * *

 

Bells chime in the air as the door closes behind the man’s back.

Haruka continues to stare at it until the sound dies out, and then turns his eyes to the order form, filled out in his own handwriting only moments ago.

_Matsuoka Rin._

_(The man the water craves for.)_

With a sigh, Haruka files away the order form, and neatly puts both portfolios back in their usual spot again. An image of the kind of ring that Rin ordered is already forming in his mind, overlapping every other second with the silver fish one he just tricked Rin into taking with him.

Haruka has never felt any particular responsibility for or attachment to the charms he makes but, for some reason, this time, he’s left hoping.

Hopefully, the ring will protect him.


End file.
